International call for action to save B.C.’s old-growth rainforests

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As part of an international call for action, the voices of 185,000 people from around the world were heard Thursday at the B.C. Legislature, when a petition calling for the protection of B.C.’s old-growth forests was delivered to the government.

Together with representatives from tourism businesses and local government, Sierra Club BC and German environmental organization Rainforest Rescue called for an end to the ongoing clearcutting of Vancouver Island’s last endangered ancient rainforest.

“The ongoing destruction undermines the positive image of Canada internationally,” said Mathias Rittgerott, spokesperson with Rainforest Rescue. “Protecting rare old-growth forests is a crucial step in fighting global warming and saving habitat of endangered species. There is no price tag for the value of these forests.”

Sent to Premier John Horgan and Forest Minister Doug Donaldson, the petition calls on the provincial government to “impose an immediate moratorium on the logging of intact forests in hotspots such as the Central Walbran and other valuable areas on Vancouver Island and the mainland.”

Ministerial assistant Tim Renneberg accepted the petition on behalf of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

Most of the concerned citizens who signed the petition are from Canada, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Australia and Argentina.

Local political support for the call came from Sonia Furstenau, MLA for Cowichan Valley, Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and councillor-elect for the City of Victoria Laurel Collins who joined the group on the steps of the legislature.

“We can produce high quality, high value wood and good jobs while protecting watersheds and our climate with strong forest stewardship and improved forest management,” said Collins.

The ongoing harvesting of the globally rare, endangered old-growth rainforests worries Island tourism operators and experts as well, who say the destruction jeopardizes B.C.’s tourism economy.

“Opportunities to experience old-growth forests are increasingly rare in B.C. and particularly on Vancouver Island. Tourism businesses built around these experiences are sustainable year after year. The lack of consideration and foresight for other economic uses of these resources is a significant concern,” said Scott Benton of the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC.

“Tourists come to Vancouver Island to experience what is missing in so many other parts of the world: intact nature,” echoed Brian White, professor at Royal Roads University School of Tourism and Hospitality. “And yet what they find when they get here is big stumps, not big trees. We’re concerned about the impact on tourism businesses.”

The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.”

The group is asking the government to follow through on that promise.

Acclaimed Documentary, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, Depicts Beauty and Destruction of BC’s Old-Growth Forests

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Cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier filming in Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island.

For immediate release
October 18, 2018

The widely acclaimed documentary film entitled Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, which premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, highlights the profound impact humanity has had on planet Earth, including the destructive logging of BC’s coastal temperate rainforests.

Anthropocene is the final installation in a series of three films that includes multiple-award-winning films Manufactured Landscapes (2006) and Watermark (2013) by renowned filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier and photographer and artist Edward Burtynsky. The film, which had shoots in 43 locations in 20 different countries, features scenes of Avatar Grove, a now-famous old-growth forest that the Ancient Forest Alliance successfully campaigned to protect, and old-growth logging near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island as an example of the extent to which humans have altered the natural world and its ecological processes.

“Having grown up on Vancouver Island, it was very important to me that we showcase both the beauty and the destruction of BC’s coastal temperate rainforests in the film,” stated Anthropocene Co-Director, Jennifer Baichwal. “Of the many dramatic examples of humanity’s impact on the natural environment that we documented across the world, the logging of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island was deeply disturbing.”

“These incredible ecosystems evolved over many thousands of years and yet, in a little over a century, we’ve managed to wipe out about 80% of the original, productive old-growth forest in southwest BC and well over 90% of the highest productivity forests with the biggest trees and most biodiversity. Witnessing this destruction first-hand was devastating and made me want to fight for a complete moratorium on old-growth logging in BC and Canada, period. There is plenty of second-growth available for industry and logging old-growth is cynical, greedy, and deeply short-sighted. When will we stop? When there are no trees left?”

The film artfully explores the theory proposed by the Anthropocene Working Group, an international body of scientists, that we have entered a new geological epoch wherein humans are the primary cause of planetary change. It is also part of a larger body of work called The Anthropocene Project, which includes exhibits at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada, featuring photographic prints, high-definition murals, film and augmented reality (AR) installations. One of the three AR installations allows viewers to experience Big Lonely Doug, Canada’s second-largest Douglas-fir tree which stands alone in a clearcut on Vancouver Island, at or near actual scale.

Anthropocene also includes footage by Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner and Photographer TJ Watt, including the logging of some of Canada’s finest old-growth forest in the Nahmint Valley, as well as a shipment of raw logs exports leaving Port Alberni for overseas markets. Watt worked with the filmmaking crew for several days over the course of two years while they were shooting for the film, guiding them to big trees and clearcuts around the Port Renfrew area.“It was an amazing opportunity,” said Watt. “For more than a decade I have looked up to renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky and I’m honoured to have worked alongside him and the rest of the talented team on this powerful film. It’s been a great reminder that, on a global scale, the ancient forests of BC are some of the most precious and threatened places on the planet.”

“Seeing the destruction of Vancouver Island’s ancient forests depicted alongside the world’s largest and most polluting mines, most destructive machines, iconic endangered species like Sumatran tigers, and coral bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef really puts the situation into context,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance Campaigner Andrea Inness.

“BC’s old-growth temperate rainforests are globally significant. Not only are they admired and visited by millions of people from around the world, they are an important component in the fight against dangerous climate change. They store more carbon per hectare than any forest on Earth. Continuing to log these carbon sinks – particularly in light of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent findings – is downright foolish.”

“The BC government has a window of opportunity right now to protect the last remnant tracts of productive old-growth in BC before they’re lost, but first they need a major wake-up call. BC decision-makers need to listen to the messages that films like Anthropocene are sending: that our extractive, resource-based economy has done irreparable damage to the planet and that we need to apply our ingenuity towards innovative and truly sustainable solutions.”

 

Background information on old-growth forests
Old-growth forests are vital to sustaining unique endangered species, climate stability, tourism, clean water, wild salmon, and the cultures of many First Nations. On BC’s southern coast, satellite photos show that at least 75% of the original, productive old-growth forests have been logged, including well over 90% of the valley bottoms where the largest trees grow. Only about 8% of Vancouver Island’s original, productive old-growth forests are protected in parks and Old-Growth Management Areas (see maps and stats at: https://16.52.162.165/ancient-forests/before-after-old-growth-maps/).

Old-growth forests – with trees that can be 2,000 years old – are a non-renewable resource under BC’s system of forestry, where second-growth forests are re-logged every 50 to 100 years, never to become old-growth again.The Ancient Forest Alliance is recommending comprehensive, science-based plan to protect endangered old-growth forests, policies that ensure a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry, and support for First Nations land use plans, Indigenous Protected Areas, and sustainable economic development and diversification in lieu of old-growth logging.

Despite their 2017 election platform promise to use the ecosystem-based management approach of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model for managing old-growth forests across the province, the BC NDP government has yet to take any meaningful action toward this commitment.

 

Old-growth logging in 2017 - Edinburgh Mt

VIDEO: What Will it Take to Save BC’s Old-Growth Forests?

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What Will it Take to Save BC’s Old-Growth Forests? 

Summer 2018 marked the 25-year anniversary of the Clayoquot Sound mass blockades, where over 12,000 people took part in the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history to protect the area’s remaining intact ancient forests from logging. 25 years on, old-growth forests in Clayoquot Sound and across BC are still awaiting protection and, on Vancouver Island, thousands of hectares of ancient forest ecosystems are being forever lost to industrial logging each year.

To commemorate these landmark protests, the AFA released a series of films exploring the significance of the War in the Woods of the 80’s and 90’s, the ecological and economic values of old-growth forests, and the role of Indigenous communities in their protection.

This film, which concludes our series, presents an overview of these issues and the solutions urgently needed to finally protect ancient forests. These solutions, including science-based old-growth protection legislation; policies that ensure sustainable, value-added second-growth forestry; and support for First Nations’ sustainable economic diversification, are fully within reach. They require political will from the NDP provincial government and broad support from British Columbians from all walks of life.

See interviews by Ken Wu (Ancient Forest Alliance co-founder), TJ Watt (Ancient Forest Alliance photographer and co-founder), Valerie Langer (former Friends of Clayoquot Sound Campaign Organizer), Paul George (Wilderness Committee co-founder), Dr. Andy MacKinnon (forest ecologist, co-author of the Plants of Coastal BC), Arnie Bercov (Public and Private Workers of Canada President), Dan Hager (Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce President), Andrea Inness (Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner), Eli Enns (Tla-o-qui-aht Ha’uukmin Tribal Park co-founder, Indigenous Circle of Experts Co-Chair), and Tyson Atleo (Ahousaht hereditary leader)

Please help us in calling on the NDP government to finally end the decades-long battle for BC’s ancient forests by sending an instant message at www.ancientforestalliance.org/send-a-message today.